The Korean War

The Korean War emerged when the Soviet supported North Korean Army, invaded neighboring South Korea, who was supported by the United States on June 25, 1950. The main warfare was during the period from June 25, 1950 until the Peace agreement was signed on July 27, 1953.

The major support for North Korea was from the People’s Republic of China. They had limited assistance from the Soviet Union in forms of combat advisors, military pilots, and weapons. Whereas ,South Korea was supported by the United Nations Command forces in Korea (U.N.) forces, consisting primarily of American troops, aircraft, artillery, naval support, weapons, and the threat of nuclear weapons.

In South Korea, the war is often called 6•25 or 6•25 War and formally was called Hanguk Jeonjaeng. In North Korea, the war is commonly known as the Korean War, and it is formally called the Fatherland Liberation War. The war is seldom called “The Forgotten War” because it is a major conflict of the 20th century whose attention is less than World War II, which preceded it, and the controversial Vietnam War, which succeeded it.

The Korean War was the last major war where propeller-powered fighters such as the F-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair and aircraft carrier-based Super marine, Sea fire were used. Turbojet fighter aircraft such as F-80s and F9F Panthers came to dominate the skies, which overpowered North Korea’s propeller-driven Yakovlev Yak-9s and Lavochkin La-9s. From 1950, North Koreans began flying the Soviet-made MiG-15 jet fighters, some of which were piloted by experienced Soviet Air Force pilots.

The Korean War was the first armed confrontation of the Cold War and set the standard for many conflicts which came in later on . This created the idea of a limited war, where the two superpowers would fight in another country, forcing the people in that nation to suffer the immense destruction and death .The war eventually led to strengthening of alliances in the Western bloc and the splitting of Communist China from the Soviet bloc.

The Korean War damaged both the Koreas heavily. South Korea stagnated economically in the decade following the war, but it was later able to modernize and industrialize. In contrast, the North Korean economy recovered quickly after the war and until around 1975 surpassed that of South Korea. But North Korea’s economy eventually slowed.

Today, the North Korean economy is almost nonexistent while the South Korean economy is expanding.